Jigsaw
by xLilim
Summary: A collection of unrelated Redesign/Kintsugi/Of Ivory Lies and Blackened Hearts specials written for all occasions. MadaraOC; IzunaOC
1. The Bartering of Uchiha Mio

Jigsaw is a collection of Holiday specials, side stories, and one-shots related to the Seasons Wither series (Redesign, Kintsugi, Of Ivory Lies and Blackened Hearts) that compiles scenes that did not make it into the series and events that occurred behind the scenes. There will also be stories that feature the backstories of important characters and they will be broken down into chapter format.

Do consider these AU despite occurring in the same universe as the stories from which they are derived. I generally like to consider a lot of these "what if" scenarios, but a lot of them can fit within the stories (however, I can't add them for craft reasons).

I have also chosen to post them separately from the related stories because it would be too strange to have a sudden break in between events, so I hope you don't mind this.

That said, I hope you enjoy reading them (or this). Also, future specials will be posted as follow-up chapters to their respective entries.

* * *

 **Story** : Redesign

 **Pairing** ( **s** ): None

 **Word Count** : 2353

 **Rating** : T

 **Summary** : Motou Ayuka seeks an unlikely ally in an attempt to best Kuronuma Shinya.

 **Author's Comment** : This was supposed to be posted in between "On the Battlefield" and "The Slumbering Beasts" to formally set the stage. I edited something out. Mainly, I edited out the reason why Ayuka really wants Mio because to those only reading Redesign, I want you all to find out in Mio's POV, which will be soon. To those reading Winter, we must not speak its name — just kidding, but I said it there!

 _ **Originally posted on February 22, 2014.  
**_

* * *

 **The Bartering of Uchiha Mio**

Motou Ayuka stared into the Fate Sphere's flat surface hours after having unfurled it over the table and watched dozens of lines intertwine in war, many of them perishing like an afterthought.

She desperately sought to avoid the upstart of an Artifact War in a time when monsters like Kuronuma Musashi and Shinya were still alive. She never faced the old Shugosha in her lifetime, but she recognized from the beginning that the wealth of guardians that followed him were not simply doing so out of obligation to the artifacts, they were doing it in acknowledgment of his power. However, Shin, she had been fighting for almost forty years. She had waged war against him after he had killed his brother Nishiki and it had been difficult, more so than anticipated.

She had been the strongest guardian after Nishiki when Shin had sworn to surpass her and burn her alive. She had defeated him several times, but he had never submitted to death. Their relationship had remained strained for decades, despite having been forced to work together in doing Musashi's bidding (which had been attempts to remedy the animosity), and it had culminated to this window in time.

Ayuka was certain he was stronger, much more powerful that the boy she nearly killed decades past, but it was a frightening thing not to know an exact measure to his strength.

Ayuka preferred to wait until his artifact's poison killed him. She predicted he would leave all his artifacts to Mio until she saw it through Madara's pathways that he would split the responsibility between them. She saw more through Madara's path, the lines propagated into many possibilities since the last time she had looked at it and it seemed certain details were bound to repeat themselves wherever he was concerned. However unnerving those were, she was able to determine Mio would be landing in the Sun Country carrying seven artifacts on her eighteenth year. Many of Madara's pathways begun with her arrival, so, Ayuka read and memorized all of their outcomes.

Mio would be imprisoned in the Sun Country without her knowledge upon her arrival. With the Kuronuma clan vulnerable and Musashi without his precious Time Sphere, it would be easy for the Mikazuki-Uchiha alliance under Hiryuu to obliterate them all despite the Senju clan's future involvement.

Ayuka tore her gaze away from the giant scroll and blinked, readjusting to reality. Her predictions were two years early and changes were possible through Mio's pathways, but she planned to set obstacles to avoid it from deviating to the desirable culmination.

For now, her focus remained on prolonging the inevitable war over the artifacts. Once word spread, she wouldn't be the only one vying for them. _The strong need to die now_ , she thought. _Mio needs to be weak._ The benefit of having an overemotional Shugosha was that they were easy to break, but Shin's presence was tampering with the hard work she had investing in knocking Mio down.

"Ayuka-sama, your guests are here."

Kikumi entered with two men following close behind. She welcomed Mikami Seiko with appraisal and met her second guest with a hint of uncertainty. This man traveled long and far from the Iron Country to sate his own curiosity. He stood a foot taller than she with mousy brown hair and dark eyes, his build was lean but also muscled beneath his dark clothing. Among his clansmen, he had become a force of strength and became an Elder at an early age, but upon the shameful separation of power that the Uchiha clan had experience, he came out lacking. However, his loss had more to do with his personality than his clan's respect towards him. She knew there were members of the Uchiha clan that feared confronting him, a fact that had left Uchiha Hiryuu with few volunteers when he had gone on his first hunt for the man and Mio.

"Would you be interested in something to drink?" Ayuka offered, walking around her table to roll her scroll shut. She tucked it away in a large trunk underneath a heavy quilt. "Tea, water…perhaps, sake."

"Tea is fine," Mikami Seiko announced, inviting himself into a seat.

"I have water," the Uchiha replied. He remained standing as guarded as she was.

Ayuka sent Kikumi away to retrieve tea for herself and Seiko before offering the Uchiha a place across her table. He took it reluctantly, glimpsing around the small cabin she inhabited in the outskirts of the island. She enjoyed its privacy and closeness to the sea.

"What do you prefer to be called?" asked Ayuka.

"Taiga," the Uchiha said curtly.

"Taiga," she repeated, feeling inadequate.

"I imagine it must be difficult for someone your age to say very longwinded names, but two syllables should be fine."

Seiko grunted. "Watch your tongue, brat."

Taiga smiled at the Mikami clan leader. "Who are you?"

The insult cracked Seiko's passive mien. "You dare—"

"There will be no fighting," Ayuka interrupted. "I asked you both here for a single reason and that is moving forward with my plans. Doing so requires the participation and collaboration of both of you."

"I am listening," said Taiga.

Ayuka found herself at a loss for words in the presence of their expectant stares. She thought she had thought things through before arranging the meeting, especially in reaching out to Taiga when he was in Shin's presence. He would be a necessary driving force in moving forward and determining whether or not Mio took the correct pathway.

Kikumi interrupted them shortly to deliver tea before scurrying away.

"You brought me here to speak of Enki," Seiko interjected. "You have made plans for him, but I have seen none being implemented. With his opposition down to a measly group of Senju shinobi, he is more of a tyrant than ever. Why did you choose him to lead? Jikai was a simpler man, decent. This man is trash."

"Because Jikai's interest in the spheres was limited to one," said Ayuka. "Enki is a gluttonous man and easily persuaded. With him, my goal is attainable. It is the only way to weaken the Kuronuma clan enough to steal the artifacts from its weakest matriarch."

"What artifacts?" asked Taiga with a hint of interest.

"The Kuronuma clan is guardian to ten distinct, but powerful items," Ayuka offered in explanation. "The story of their creation traces back to the legend of the Sage of Six Paths and the Ten-Tails until it was lost through generations of the Kuronuma clan attempting to keep them from falling into the wrong hands. The spheres have since passed down from Kuronuma to Kuronuma, but things are destined to change with the ascension of the new Shugosha."

"What is so wonderful about these items?" Taiga looked skeptical. "You have not explained anything and want me to join you over a questionable revelation? If you plan to waste my time, I am leaving."

He started to leave his seat, but her shout forced him back into it. "Each artifact is different!" Ayuka stared at his youthful, serious face. "Reading the different paths into a person's lives, controlling the weather, imbuing a weapon with any chakra nature, becoming a master of the Kuronuma techniques—there is a sphere for whatever you can think of. There is even one that can increase your strength, skill, and aptitude in battle and another that can create worlds like this only better."

Taiga laughed. "That sounds absurd. How could the Kuronuma clan keep such treasures hidden for so long?"

"Does it make no sense at all? The Kuronuma clan are secluded to a mountain within Kurata where it is always winter? People and shinobi alike fearing to venture up their mountain in fear of falling prey of their cannibalistic rituals? What about their refusal to leave their mountain in the last hundred years?"

"What about the Kuronuma, Shin? He has been living in the Iron Country for two decades," he said quickly. "And there were others as well. Kuronuma that came and went with the time. How does that automatically decide that they are sitting on a mountain of rare treasures?"

"Because I was given one of their treasures long ago and I saw the nine others that were born with it." Ayuka removed herself from her seat and pulled out her Fate Sphere, letting it spill before them, unfurling atop the table a blank canvas. "I have been the guardian of this sphere for two generations of Shugosha and it has told me the pathways of many kings and warriors alike and it brought me to you both."

"And what do you see in this old scroll of yours?" Taiga asked, humoring her. He touched the surface with a bit of a chuckle and looked up at her with luminous eyes. "Tell me."

She peered down into the surface watching long, thin green lines rising from the white and running in all directions like a the spreading roots of a tree. She looked for a second, but it was long enough to see that his pathways crossed with Mio's and Madara's and other's in ways she never expected to find elsewhere.

"It tells me your interest in the next Shugosha will be problematic," she said warningly.

"You continuously say the next Shugosha, but you forget there is a candidate before her," Seiko cut in. "What do you think will happen to Kuronuma Eito? Do you plan to have him up and disappear?"

"He is unimportant. He will not live long. I have already met his demise." She smiled. "We are meeting for tea later this month."

"I know no Shugosha," Taiga said, a hint of confusion in his voice.

"She is the Uchiha you took with you," Seiko answered.

"Mio?"

"Yes, Mio, and your connection with her is doomed," Ayuka repeated. "No matter how you approach the subject, she will not be yours to claim." She had seen these pathways before, she was certain of it, but they had formed differently under varying circumstances. "Know that because she is the next Shugosha she will become the crowning piece to every man's life. You will not be the only man that wants her."

"Not the youngest, not the oldest," Seiko added with a snicker. "The fat pig here wants to make her his bride."

She read the silence surrounding Taiga tightening.

"There are two Uchiha brothers," Ayuka continued. "One she marries in half her pathways."

"Izuna." Taiga spoke his name like a curse.

"No."

His eyebrows knitted in consternation. "Madara."

Ayuka inclined her head.

"He despises her! That is impossible!" he snapped.

"I said they marry, I never said he loved her," she answered, although actions were deceptive and Madara was a snake in his own right. "His interest in her will be a selfish one, but he will be determined. Madara will have whatever he desires even if that means taking a woman that will bring him misfortune."

She saw his fisted hand on the table, the knuckles white with the strain, and smiled. "You should know there is a way to make a difference in these outcomes. There are ways to open new pathways…all you have to do is make subtle changes, things that nobody would see as suspicious." She began pulling her scroll back. "Uchiha Mio's future is secured. She will marry Enki, but you may do what you wish afterward."

Taiga stilled, jaw clenched. "No."

"No?"

"No need for you to turn down the offer, that girl will be no use for anything other than keeping the bed warm," Seiko commented. "She will lose her leverage quickly if it is as Ayuka-san predicted."

Ayuka saw the anger in Taiga start to boil. "Perhaps it is time for you to decide whether you want to reap the spoils of this war or not," she said quickly. "I can promise you an artifact once it is over or Mio."

"If there's any of her left." Seiko grunted, still finding humor in the situation. "You bore witness to what Enki did to Miwa. The pig made his own children see. I expect no less from him with the second wife."

Taiga quelled his frustration before her eyes with an odd ease and complimented its absence with a twisted smile. "So, what do you need me to do?"

"Give me your price?"

"Mio. I do not care what needs to change, you take care of it."

"Then you will have it."

"Enki will need to be killed," Taiga added. "Take what you want from Mio, but she remains mine. Nobody is to lay a hand on her."

"That is too difficult a demand," Ayuka objected. "I have made all necessary changes to bring her here to the Sun Country to have her marry Enki."

"Then I will find a way to return into Sachiyo's good graces and come here. I will bring her to you myself," he offered. "Give me a time and I will have it done."

The determination in his tone won her over. She saw no way around it. "When Kurata is overrun by the Mikazuki-Uchiha alliance and the Kuronuma clan seeks the help of the Senju clan, when it is the youngest of the Senju brothers that takes command of the enemy side and the darkness in Mt. Hyōga begins to fade, you will wait for her at port and cross the sea with her. Only when she is in this country before me, will I have Enki killed, but you must take his place."

"It is done."

Taiga left his seat without a second word and walked out of her home briskly. Ayuka order Kikumi to escort him onto the ferry as promised and shut the door. She waited a moment to speak again, but Seiko begun to laugh.

"You were right in saying he would bend to our will as soon as the girl was thought to be in danger," he said through his fit of laughter.

"We need his mind on our side. I could not risk him remaining loyal to Shinya," Ayuka replied with a proud smile.


	2. The Gamekeepers

**Story** : Redesign

 **Pairing** ( **s** ): None

 **Word Count** : 1141

 **Rating** : T

 **Summary** : This is the follow-up to The Bartering of Uchiha Mio. Last part.

 **Author's Comment** : Shin is like a rare, legendary pokemon and he is such a gem for it.

Enjoy delving into Taiga's intentions. If you fully grasp what he means by the end of this short scene, you might change your mind about him. He might not be as creepy as he's made out to be. He is just misunderstood.

 _ **Originally posted on February 23, 2014.**_

* * *

 **The Gamekeepers**

The man sat among the spidery limbs of a tree toying with the strangely shaped dagger that hung from the slanted belt around his waist when Taiga arrived from the Sun Country. He was a breath away from the straight path leading to the merchant town where Jouji awaited him. The Kuronuma, Shin, lowered his pale, rose eyes to acknowledge his presence with a hint of a smile.

"Welcome back, Oh Nameless One," greeted Shin, waving gaily. "I do hope the witch received you kindly. The poor girl is senile. She tends to forget her manners."

Taiga halted before him as a courtesy. Men like Kuronuma Shin were not easily ignored, not in any lifetime. He was wary of the man. He understood he was capable of much despite his airy disposition and his seemingly problem-free world. He did not trust Shin as far as he could throw him, but the feeling between the two was mutual and from it, he recognized they had some level of respect for one another—at least a modicum, but it was better to have it than have nothing.

"I was offered tea," said Taiga, hands sliding into his pants' pockets.

"I hope you refused it. Those girls of hers brew terrible tea."

"Are you that interested in our conversation?" asked Taiga, grinning.

Shin sheathed his dagger and leaned forward, both hands clamped over the base of the branch where he sat. "No, not so much," he answered. "I only came to see that you made it back with all your limbs attached. The situation in the Sun Country is terrible. I would loathe to see you get caught in it—all personal feelings aside, of course."

Taiga shrugged, indifferent to the concern and the memory of his discussions with Ayuka of the Fate Sphere. "I am intact," he stated. "Now, how does one get rid of you?"

The Kuronuma laughed heartily, hopping down from his seat. He stretched his arms high over his head, yawning. The man was of an astounding height and long white hair as customary with all Kuronuma descendants. "Excellent question," he said, smiling. "Unfortunately, there is no method to the craft. I simply decide when to go."

"Have you decided?"

Shin stepped forward, towering over him with the same gracious smile on his lips. "Have you decided?" he asked. "You have been given two propositions concerning my granddaughter and the grand scheme of things. You have taken your first step into a war that has been raging in silence for years. A decision must be made. Will you fight for preservation or destruction? Whom will you fight for? What will you fight for? How will you fight for it? You have hundreds of questions to answer, half made up of decisions you must make quickly. The time is nigh, Nameless One."

"Should you entrust this responsibility to me?" asked Taiga in amusement, though the Kuronuma's words lingered in his mind. "Ayuka has offered me fair compensation for my loyalty. What have you done?"

"I am letting you live, is that not enough compensation?" hummed Shin, as if he had said anything other than state that he owed him his life.

"She is giving me Mio."

"Mio is not hers to give," the Kuronuma said, his pale eyes dancing with malice.

"That won't matter once I guide her into the Sun Country, she was being offered to the king as bride, whether or not I had interfered," Taiga remarked, feeling his anger rekindle. "What will you do when that happens? Where will you be? You are as involved in this mess of a war as that woman, and yet, you both stand outside as your chosen champions' battle over trash!"

"I am not long for this world," Shin admitted, surprising him with the revelation. "I have another year or two, three if I am fortunate, but like you said, my days are numbered and my champion is a child."

"That is splendid," said Taiga, stepping back as he waved his arms exasperatedly. "You are about to die, too? Are you determined to leave behind this chaos?"

"I thought I already made a mention to all that—yes, yes to all of your inquiries. I intend to do them both."

"What is to stop me from accepting Ayuka's proposition?" demanded Taiga, furious with Shin's nonchalance. "You would be dead, I would owe you nothing, and Mio would be mine."

Shin sighed, averting his eyes as he brought his fingers to scratch underneath his chin. "I understand naught what you expect to gain from staking your claim on Mio," he said, sounding perplexed and bored all the same. "She will never accept you out of her own volition—it will always be for necessity or to keep you from ruining Sako's life—and she will not love you. There will always be another and another and another. No matter how many you kill, there will always be another love in her life. She is not Ayuka's to give."

"And you will let every other man use her?"

"Mio is not a fool. When she enters the war and when I am dead, she will let no man or woman use her. She is capable, more than you and half the world give her credit for, and she will survive." Shin tucked his hands into his sleeves and started to wander off. "Mio is the Shugosha. She will handle her future."

"Until then, you hope to control her life?"

The Kuronuma merely smiled.

"Why don't you and Ayuka kill each other off and end it? Let Mio be."

"There are rules to the game, Nameless One," Shin replied, turning around, though he continued walking away. He raised his voice to make sure he could hear him. "Rules Ayuka and I are bound by, rules implemented after an accident I may or may not have been responsible for, and these rules cannot be broken."

Taiga watched him go with resentment towards Mio's situation. She was the only one that knew nothing of the battles being fought for her and the Kuronuma's relics. It left him to wonder how she might react when she came to understand what it all meant. He could picture her panicking—crying and quitting. Her grandfather expected too much from her and Ayuka read too much into her readings. Mio was strong in her own right—capable in her skill set—but, the Kuronuma artifacts, Shin and Ayuka's chaotic inheritance, her fate as Shugosha, and the death that surrounded her would be enough to drive her crazy.

He did not expect her to survive it and he planned to do everything in his power to interfere with both Shin and Ayuka's plans by accepting Ayuka's offer. He would have Mio once Enki was dead and whatever came after that would come.


	3. But I Have Friends!

**Story** : Pre-Kintsugi and Of Ivory Lies

 **Pairing** ( **s** ): None (Implied OC|OC)

 **Word Count** : 935

 **Rating** : E

 **Summary** : Yayoi suggests Izuna acquires new friends, he accuses her of looking into his pathways. She denies this.

 **Author's Comment** : This one was a bit of a quick write. I thought I should cover that bit where Yayoi tells Izuna to make more friends.

 _ **Originally posted on January 1, 2015.**_

* * *

 **But I Have Friends!**

"You're late," Izuna pointed out, watching Yayoi enter the house through the kitchen's back door.

Yayoi yelped, dropping her artifact. "Izuna! Why are you just sitting there in the dark?" she demanded, scrambling to pick up the giant scroll. "Jeez! You scared me!"

Izuna had gone into the kitchen because he'd wanted to eat something before going to sleep. He'd just gathered and reheated that evening's leftovers.

The priestess quickly lit the room with a lantern and set it on the table in front of him. "You shouldn't eat in the dark."

"I was finding everything fine," Izuna replied, bringing his rice bowl to his mouth to eat what remained inside it. He chewed and swallowed his food before he continued speaking, this time with a smirk. "So, were you out having fun? Did you meet someone interesting?"

Yayoi laughed, dodging the question. "Why would you say that? You know I don't have anyone I'm meeting!"

Izuna stared at her, challenging her to continue with her lie.

"Okay! Fine, you win!" she blurted. "There's someone! He's temporary, so no teasing!"

"This better not be like the last man you were involved with or Madara will get angry," Izuna warned. That had been disastrous.

"It isn't!" she protested. "He's not a shinobi. He's just a townsperson."

"Just a townsperson like the last, last man you were involved with?" he asked. That one had been terrible, too.

"I'm certain he's not an undercover spy!"

"I think I'm going to have to meet him," Izuna decided. "Before Madara decides to do it himself."

"You don't need to meet him," Yayoi said. "I don't want you to meet him."

"Why not?"

"He's temporary!"

Izuna smiled. "Oh, I get it."

"You get what?"

"You're probably just embarrassed of him."

Yayoi's face flushed in annoyance. "I am not embarrassed of him! He's a perfectly fine man! He's handsome, too! Very handsome! Ruggedly handsome! And he's great! A charmer! He gives me presents and treats me like a queen!"

Izuna put his elbow up on the table and rested his chin on his open palm, still staring at Yayoi with amusement. "Just be careful, okay?"

Yayoi nodded.

"Madara doesn't want to kill any more of your ex-boyfriends."

"You act like he's been killing all of my ex-boyfriends, it was only one and that's because he was using me to get information on you both."

"Exactly," Izuna said, "and we want to avoid things like that. It's bad enough you made Mio come all the way from the Iron Country to comfort you."

"Hey! She came on her own!"

"And you ran to her crying as soon as you saw her."

"I didn't!"

"You did."

Yayoi frowned.

Izuna left his seat to wash his dirty dishes.

"Are you doing anything tomorrow?" Yayoi asked.

"I'm returning to the Tea Country."

"Oh really?" Yayoi surprisingly perked up. "For what reason?"

"Okui might be plotting against us, so I'm going to make sure he changes his mind if he does."

"Just don't kill him!"

"I'm not Madara."

"You can be just as bad tempered as he is, worse even."

"That's an awful thing to say, Yayoi."

"Don't act so offended, you know it's true."

"Madara is definitely the worst."

Yayoi rolled her eyes, hoisting the giant scroll into her arms. "You should try to make new friends on your journey."

"Why would I need new friends?"

"Well, you sort of don't make any these days."

"But I have friends. They're all pretty good ones."

"Yes, but you should try to make new ones," Yayoi repeated, then smiled. "You never know, you might meet someone you like."

Izuna grimaced. "You better not have been perusing my pathways, Yayoi."

"I don't peruse!"

" _Uh-huh_."

"You know what? I'm going to take a bath and then I'm going to bed! Good night!" She went straight for the door, pausing after sliding it open. "Remember, Izuna, make friends. Lots of them."

"Yeah, yeah, I'll do my best."

"Okay, I'm going to trust you."

Yayoi left the kitchen humming her way down the hallway until Izuna heard a door open noisily.

"Quiet down, Yayoi!" snapped Sachiyo.

"I'm sorry!"

"She's just happy she got lucky!" Kana's voice emerged from the distance.

"What? No! I didn't—"

"This better not be like the last time!" Madara shouted down the stairs.

"It isn't!"

"That's it! I'm finding you a husband!" Sachiyo decided. "You are too free spirited!"

"Please, don't!"

Izuna laughed.

"You should start looking for wives for Madara and Izuna, not Yayoi. Yayoi can wait," Kana shouted back.

"I don't need a wife!" Madara yelled.

"I don't want one either!" Izuna responded, raising his voice.

"They don't need wives!" Yayoi added.

"You better not have been looking into my pathways!" Madara warned.

"I knew it! You did look!" Izuna accused, leaving the sink to reach the door. His voice had overlapped with his brother's.

Yayoi was standing in the middle of the hallway in front of the staircase, looking up. She turned to Izuna. "I didn't!"

"She totally looked!" Kana responded, laughing. "I saw her! She took blood off clothes!"

"Damnit Yayoi!" Madara cursed. "I'm taking that damn artifact from you!"

"Yayoi, that's gross!" Izuna added.

Yayoi stared at Izuna horrified, fumbling for words. "But I didn't!"

"Why are you all still up? It's the middle of the night!" Sachiyo yelled. "Shut up and go to sleep!"

Kana could be heard cackling from her bedroom.

"That includes you, Kana!" Sachiyo snapped. "Quiet down or you'll never find a good husband!"

That shut Kana right up.

Izuna sighed.

Yayoi shrugged and went on her way.


	4. The Exception to the Rule

**Story** : Kintsugi

 **Pairing** ( **s** ): Implied Madara|Mio

 **Word Count** : 2310

 **Rating** : T

 **Author's Comment** : I initially wrote "The Kuronuma Tree" in Takuto's POV. Due to a last minute decision to cut the previous chapter, I ended up changing it to Mio's POV for consistency's sake. However, I loved Takuto and Yayoi's conversation that I felt it would be a loss to just discard what I had written. So, I'm releasing it as a oneshot.

 _ **Originally posted on January 9, 2015.**_

* * *

 **The Exception to the Rule**

Yayoi nudged him awake that morning, ordering him to get dressed as she kicked off the fur covers to do the same. As she hurried around his yurt searching for her clean robes and a warm jacket, Kuronuma Takuto sat up, rubbing his drowsy face somewhat aware that the sun had not yet risen. His thought process was a tad slower, but he noted how strange it was for Yayoi to be up so early. He usually woke first and normally dragged her out of bed by cooking something fragrant and delicious to get her day started.

"Why are you sitting there for?" asked Yayoi, receiving a skeptical look in response. "The Kuronuma Tree! I heard something from the house and I think Mio and Madara are planting the tree."

"You can hear that far away?" he questioned, yawning into his hand.

Yayoi froze, hesitated, and said, quite suspiciously, "Yes."

Takuto pushed his body to stand, heavy limbed and somnolent, and went to wash his face in a basin of cool water to promote a bit of wakefulness. It provided a little clarity on what previously sounded like a long murmur, translating it into words. He stood stiffly before the washbowl watching the water he held pooled in his cupped hands drip onto the rippling surface.

Planting a Kuronuma Tree—a black-barked tree with sharp limbs that was known for growing while blossoms under harsh, wintry conditions—was a longstanding tradition in marriages on Mt. Hyōga that was said to have begun with Kiyohime's marriage to the blacksmith. It was symbolic to plant it the following day, as any other day would mark misfortune on the newly wedded couple. Regardless of the stories attached to the symbol, none of the Kuronuma expected Mio and Madara to wake before dawn to plant a tree. They were far from superstitious and after what happened to Saori, he knew Mio was in a fragile state.

"Takuto?"

He snapped out of his thoughts, turning to Yayoi, who held out a pale haori for him to wear. "We should go."

Takuto understood her meaning. She wanted to make sure everything was well with Mio and Madara, knowing Mio had been feverish and re-experiencing the imbalance in black water she occasionally did. If anything happened to her, she wanted to be there.

He took the haori and slid it on over his sleeping robes.

They stepped out together. Takuto froze, looking around to find his yurt several yards away from the encampment and much closer to Sachiyo's house. He looked at Yayoi, who shrugged.

"What?"

"You moved my yurt, Yayoi!" he cried.

"For a good cause!"

"I have to be watching Saori!"

"It's okay, I moved her, too."

Takuto took a few steps back and saw another yurt beside his own. "How did you even do this?"

"With my hands!" she answered, wiggling her fingers. "How else would I do it?"

Takuto was stunned the entire time he took a detour to make sure Saori was doing well. She was being watched by a medic that informed him her condition was stable. He was on the clock with six other medics, each taking a few hours to observe her and ensure his treatments worked and that she was recovering.

Takuto met with Yayoi after she reached an area far enough from the lakeside where Mio and Madara could go about their business without being disturbed by their presence and where they had a clear view of the two.

He watched the scene, chest tight. Mio dug through snow and dirt having relinquished the spade that she had brought out to aid in the process. She did it with a jarring determination that made Yayoi reached to take his hand and squeeze as their Shugosha cut and tore at her fingernails, using them as if they were unbreakable shovels. Madara consistently tried to stop her, going as far as raising his voice, stunning the entire world around them into silence.

"Stop this!" he snapped, jerking her attention to him as he held her bloody hands by the wrists. "Stop it."

Yayoi took a step forward. "We have to bandage her up."

Takuto tightened his hold on her hand, stopping her from moving further. When the priestess turned in search of an explanation, he merely shook his head. Mio only needed to be with Madara. He understood her a little better and was able to see the pain coursing through her like the blood in her veins. He could provide support for her without difficulty.

Madara uttered a few more words as Mio visibly sobbed. She brought her hands to cover her face, letting out a pained cry that reached them. It struck him like a shard of ice and spread through him, leaving him numb. As he watched her break down, crumple into herself in search of the solace tears could provide her if only she were capable of emptying herself of them. If they had been able to carrying the pain out of her body, it would have been better, but they couldn't. She carried all the aches and pains inside her, learning to live with them the same way she learned to live with the death of her first Guardian. The pain she described was one he could never imagined—splintered bones, being torn apart, never truly able to be the person you had been before.

Saori had been so near death and Mio had been overcome with the pain, the same she felt when Taiga died.

Madara stood, picking the spade up from the ground and began to dig the hole.

"Isn't there something we could do?" asked Yayoi quietly, tightening her grip. "To make it hurt less."

"We can support her," he answered. "It is about the only thing we can do."

"I fear…" Yayoi paused, her eyes glued on Mio's hunched form. "I fear _that_ is what we'll do to her. I fear she will have to mourn all of our deaths."

Takuto inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly. He hoped that would not happen. He could not bear it if she lost anyone else and he knew each one of her guardians were important to her. "That leaves us no choice, then," he said, turning away from Mio and Madara to meet Yayoi's expectant gaze. "We'll have to survive through to the end as she will."

The end meant the destruction of the artifacts, a feat they were far from accomplishing even though Mio had already made a move towards seeing it done. There was no way she could break the artifacts without killing herself, though he had a sneaking suspicion that she had already tried that route and had been bearing with the consequences by herself.

"We can do that, can't we?" asked Takuto, finding Yayoi too silent with worry.

"We can try," she said at last.

Madara dug a deep enough hole and dropped the shovel, heaving the Kuronuma Tree into the ground. The processes earned him scratches on his hands and arms and a few splintered fingers that looked to bother him as he pushed the dirt back into place. He patted the ground around the trunk to ensure it was secure before he took a seat beside her.

Mio leaned into him, resting her head on his shoulder. Her body shook with emotion.

"We will have our families," Takuto continued. "We will be here to see them surrounded by children, not to mention watch Mio dissolve into tears when she gives birth to Shinra."

The comment brought a hint of a smile to her lips. "She started praying to the Goddess of Fertility and Childbirth a week before the wedding," Yayoi said, referring to the Motou clan's gods. "She's been asking for daughters. I don't even have the heart to tell her I have only seen sons in her future. She definitely chose the wrong man to procreate with."

Takuto brought her hand up and set his other atop hers. "I think it is best we take this knowledge with us to the grave."

"You should have been there when Madara ordered for Sachiyo to be taken away."

"Why?"

"Sachiyo told him that she'd be extremely disappointed in both of them if he hadn't put a child in Mio by the time she returned."

"That woman is certainly determined to become a great-grandmother," Takuto sighed. "I mean remember that day she locked them in the storage room."

"I was surprised they humored her before they broke the door."

"Yeah." He cast one final glance in their direction. "I think we should leave them be. Madara can take care of Mio."

Yayoi reluctantly followed his lead. "We should have at least offered to help with those scratches."

"There was no need for us to intrude. They need their privacy."

"That's rich coming from you."

"Well hello, kettle calling the pot black."

Yayoi harrumphed.

"Do you want breakfast or would you prefer sleeping for another hour?" Takuto suggested.

"Sleep," she said with a pout. "We slept nothing."

Everyone was expected to be quite exhausted after last night. Shortly after the attack and the capture of several enemy shinobi, Madara ordered the entire surrounding forest to be searched for signs of any others. He dispatched scouts to gather information and had been up for quite a while aiding in the torture of the captured shinobi.

The possibility of danger had been so great, Mio woke in the middle of the night, fighting past exhaustion and fever, to feed more chakra into the Climate Sphere to create a powerful snowstorm around the Uchiha's territory. Believing this would be the first of several forthcoming attacks, Takuto and Mio bid farewell to Yuuka and Noe, entrusting them to Murakami Keishuu and the Elder Taiki who took several of their clansmen towards the Iron Country where they were guaranteed protection. Many civilians from the village and a few Uchiha shinobi went also. This included Sako and her family, though Minako vehemently protested, wanting to stay behind. It had taken Mio having a short conversation with her to convince her to go quietly.

They secured the safety of as many people as they could and were left to wait until their enemies made their second move. Everyone was on high alert. There were guards posted everywhere, taking shifts. Takuto mobilized his shinobi because the attack had been at them, harming one of their Guardians, and the Kuronuma had taken care of setting traps around the perimeter of the territory.

Takuto pulled Yayoi back inside his yurt. Everything that needed to be handled had been.

"I am worried for Izuna," Yayoi admitted.

"Why?" asked Takuto, settling into his side of the bed as he covered himself with his thinnest sheets. He reserved the heavier blankets for Yayoi, though she had a tendency of worming her way under him. "He seems healthy. Besides, the Tea Country isn't that far. He'll be back in no time."

"That's not what I meant," she complaint, turning on her stomach while hugging one of the plush pillows under her. "Madara married Mio."

"And he made it happen," Takuto reminded.

"Yes, but I'm not blind," Yayoi replied. "He is in love with Mio and I am worried it will become a problem later."

"Do you actually think he would have his brother killed so he could marry Mio? Because that was a ridiculous rumor someone started."

"No! Not like that!" Yayoi frowned. "What are we going to do when he decides he wants to seduce Mio? And you know that if Izuna wants to seduce you, you will be seduced!"

"What? Has he seduced you?"

"No!"

"Then why are you this concerned over nothing?"

"Nothing? Will it simply be nothing when he seduces Mio? Huh?"

"If he's seducing anyone it's the kimono maker's apprentice."

Yayoi grabbed him by the collar. "What is this you are spewing from your blasphemous mouth?"

Takuto remembered seeing Izuna engaging the kimono maker's apprentice during the reception. "He spent half the night keeping her company," he said. "Of course, you were too busy scoping out all the good old men to notice anyone else."

"Good old men?" she sputtered.

"Don't act so insulted." Takuto tossed the heavier blankets on top of her. "And stop worrying about Izuna. He's happy for them now that they're married."

"Do you know the apprentice's name?"

"Huh? Why?"

"Well, do you?"

"Terashima Itoko, why?"

Yayoi smiled.

He had a bad feeling about having given her this information as she would no doubt abuse it, but she seemed so pleased with herself that he could forgive his mistake.

"You know, there is a rumor going around that you have a lover," Yayoi said as he started to drift to sleep.

"Hmm? Me? A lover?" Takuto chuckled. "Is it you?"

"Pfft! That's ridiculous! You are too young!"

He cracked open an eye, annoyed. "I am older than you."

"Only a year older."

"That is still a year difference."

Yayoi blinked. "What? Do you want to be the exception?"

"We can talk this over some other time," Takuto said, preferring to leave the conversation until they were not dealing with their current troubles.

She stared at him suspiciously. "Shame on you, Takuto," she said, "letting another woman sleep in your bed even though you already have someone."

"It's rude to put words in someone's mouth."

"Hmmm."

Although she chose to abstain from bombarding him, he knew this would not be the last he heard of that rumor. It did surprise him to see that it had followed him all the way to the Fire Country when he thought he had nipped it while still in the Iron Country.

However, they slept nothing more than a few minutes when Kaori came beckoning and he woke to start his day with Yayoi going to be by Saori's side.


	5. Mahjong

**Story** : Kintsugi

 **Pairing** ( **s** ): Madara|Mio

 **Word Count** : 2582

 **Rating** : T

 **Summary** : Keigo taught Mio how to play mahjong.

 **Author's Comment** : Half the time, I feel that Madara and Mio do a lot more of playing board games than indulge in the romantic. Either that or Mio is off running and Madara is training with Izuna. Madara just hates all these games. Mio is a complete lightweight. She's embarrassing. I wanted this to be romantic, but this happened instead. Maybe it is a little…towards the end.

 _ **Originally posted on February 14, 2015. Written as a Valentine's Day special.**_

* * *

 **Mahjong**

The little devil's spawn taught Mio how to play mahjong.

It had been difficult enough to handle her when she had developed an obsessive need to play hanafuda every other hour, but at least that she played mostly on her own, given she had managed to annoy everyone to hell and back with how often she wanted to enjoy the game.

He expected her to fall in love with mahjong the same way she fell in love with hanafuda. Borderline obsessive and annoying. So, he imagined she would want to play it at the same rate she did hanafuda, which sounded torturous.

Mahjong was different from hanafuda. It required four players, so she couldn't play it on her own (though she could practice it). It required time that could be spent doing things that were more productive. It required patience because everyone apart from Keigo and Mio understood how to play the game (though the Uzumaki claimed to have some knowledge of it). And while he was a quick learner, Yayoi had a problem.

"What's the dealer?" asked Yayoi for the umpteenth time.

"It indicates the starting dealer," Keigo explained, going onto further detail. Yayoi nodded to everything he said, clearly retaining none of the information he divulged.

Mio sat playing with her game chips. Nako sat off to the side watching them attempt at getting through a game.

Madara waited, losing a chip of his patience with every passing minute wasted on this game that would likely never happen.

Takuto returned with a round tray toppled with small cups and two bottles of sake as Yayoi agreed that she understood everything. Simply asking her to repeat everything would prove she hadn't learned a thing, but Keigo was too polite.

"I brought drinks," announced Takuto, taking the time to set a cup beside each of the mahjong players. He left one bottle with them and kept the other for himself and Nako. Sitting down, he made the mistake of asking, "How's everything going?"

Awful.

"Good. Madara and Yayoi are learning quickly," Keigo said enthusiastically.

"Couldn't you bring tea?" asked Mio. "I don't like to drink."

"You know, I don't think I've ever seen Mio drunk," said Nako curiously. "Wait? Have I?" She frowned. "No, I don't think so."

"I don't think anyone should see Mio drunk," advised Takuto.

"What does that mean?" asked Mio with no particular emphasis.

"You're not the friendliest person under the influence," added Madara.

"You know, Mio-san, the sake will make you a more aggressive player!" shouted Keigo, excitedly downing the contents of his cup. "You could really win your first game against me!"

Mio wordlessly drank her sake down to the last drop. "We should start."

Keigo wanted to see her drunk as much as Nako. Madara couldn't believe she fell for that.

"When we finish this game, I could read you your love fortunes," said Yayoi, smiling. She had been pitching that for the last several days because she wanted to read fortunes for the upcoming celebration of a love festival that practitioners of her religion used to honor relationships. Obviously, no such festival existed. It was a cheap excuse to make more money off idiots that believed in things like love fortunes.

"What do you see in my love future, Yayoi?" asked Nako.

"A nunnery if you continue asking for things you're better off not knowing," answered Mio, holding her cup out for Yayoi to refill it.

"That's not fair!" complained Nako. "You knew you would marry Madara!"

"I knew our lives were intertwined," Mio corrected, pausing to drink her sake. "I was under the impression it was because I would marry Izuna. I didn't want to marry Madara."

"That's a bit harsh," said Yayoi. "He's sitting right next to you."

"Marrying Mio was the last thing I wanted to do," added Madara.

"You two are like the ultimate marriage, aren't you?" asked Nako, in part sarcastic.

"You should be more lovey-dovey," suggested Yayoi. "Like you should steal more secret glances or hold hands wherever you go. It would be cute."

"Why would we steal glances from each other?" asked Mio, confused. She took that literally.

"Because it's romantic! You need to be romantic! If you aren't nobody is going to ever be like, I want us to be like Madara and Mio, they were always such a loving couple!" said Yayoi. "You need to aspire to be perfect."

"There is nothing romantic about stealing glances," Mio stated, shaking her head.

"They already do plenty of that," said Takuto. "They just never notice it because it's just an unconscious reaction."

"What about my love fortune?" asked Keigo, his timing impeccable. "I want to know if I'll find someone! Preferably someone tall and older!"

Yayoi brightened. "I am sure we can find you someone!"

The two clapped hands excitedly.

"Don't introduce him to anyone strange," Mio said, sighing.

"What is that supposed to mean?" asked Yayoi pointedly.

"Preferably someone that doesn't plan to use him to get information about the Uchiha clan," Madara said.

"Or the Kuronuma clan," added Mio.

"Or the Motou clan," chirped Takuto.

"Or the Uzumaki clan," said Nako.

"I don't know anything about any of those," said Keigo innocently.

"Good," said Mio, pouring her next drink. She drank it quickly and chased it with another. "We should play."

That was the fortieth time someone said the game should start since the game should have started. He wanted nothing more than to see it begin so that it could end, but he had been battling with a question since Mio told him that Izuna wasn't around.

"Where the hell is Izuna?" asked Madara. "He should be here."

"Izuna is out hunting," said Mio, pouring sake into her cup.

"Hunting?"

Mio looked him straight in the eyes. "He wanted to try hunting. He took your stupid bird, too."

"None of my falcons are missing," he said. "I fed them before coming down here."

"Maybe you need to learn how to count."

There was a lull in everyone's conversation as they all turned to Mio.

The alcohol was rearing its ugly head it seemed.

"So, we're going to play this game, right?" asked Mio, innocently enough.

Keigo and Yayoi nodded dumbly.

"I'm going to go get everyone some water," Takuto announced, leaving the room quickly.

Mio succeeded in getting the game started as Madara had been hoping for the last two hours during which she drank the most of the sake in the container, believing it made her a better player. Keigo thoroughly enjoyed boasting his victories until he had a tile thrown at his face. A tile that hit him square in the eye.

"I think we should stop for today, I have things to do," suggested Yayoi.

"Drooling over Amamori Takehiko is not a thing, it's an insult. You can find more goodness in a dead man than in that one," Mio responded harshly. "We will play another game of mahjong. Nako can sit in for Keigo."

Takuto was looking at Keigo's eye to make sure it wasn't serious, though Keigo was making it difficult by blubbering and clinging to the Kuronuma.

"We've played three times," Madara began. "I need to find Izuna. He should be back from hunting now."

"Izuna was looking for snakes," said Mio. "He's not going to find any near the cold. He went far into the forest to see if there were any."

"Snakes?" asked Madara.

"You can hunt them."

"Why would you hunt them?" asked Yayoi.

"Why wouldn't you? Snakeskin is used for many things."

"I hunt for snakes, but only to take their poison," said Takuto. "I usually release them again after, so it's not real hunting."

"You hear that Madara, Izuna went to find poison for Takuto," said Mio.

"He didn't say that."

"Yes, he did."

"No, I didn't," said Takuto.

"I think we all need to go take naps," Nako suggested. "Right Mio? You like sleeping, don't you?"

"I don't," said Mio clearly. "I don't like to sleep. It takes away from all the things you can do awake."

Everyone looked at Madara pleadingly. Mio had the potential of getting worse, especially if she found out that Yayoi hid all the alcohol under her robes to stop her from finishing the other bottle. She wasn't drunk, but she was definitely feeling the sake's effects. He glared at them all.

"Let's go practice mahjong alone," he told her, drawing her attention immediately. "We can get better faster that way."

"But what about the current game?" she asked.

"We can try again tomorrow if nobody is busy."

Mio scooped all the tiles off the table. As she was putting the game away to bring it along with them, everyone used the opportunity to thank him for his bravery, but now he was stuck having to play at practicing mahjong until he could sober her up.

He managed to talk her into walking with him to the kitchen, though she was suspicious as to why he wanted to go in. He started to make tea while she decided to set up the game on the short, square table in the kitchen. He didn't stop her. He needed her distracted.

Madara approached her with a mug of tea. "Drink this."

"Why?"

"Because you threw a tile at Keigo's eye."

Mio stared up at him, arching an eyebrow. She hiccuped. The blast of cold air might have worsened her condition. It didn't even cross his mind. "Boasting is not an attractive quality in a person."

"Keigo is sixteen."

"Boasting is not an attractive quality."

"You are not looking to find him attractive, are you?"

"Boasting is not an attractive quality," she repeated pointedly.

"Just drink the damn tea."

"You haven't answered my question."

"Why? You'll just throw a tile at my face next."

"Don't think you're so special that I would throw a tile at your face."

Madara needed to find a way to get her to respond to something, to anything. She was just answering everything with a deadpan.

"You need to sober up."

"I am sobered up."

"You're not going to be a better player if you're drunk."

"You don't know that."

"You were definitely better sober. Keigo cheated you because he wanted to see you drunk, just like Nako."

"You are not being very attractive right now."

Madara choked. "What?"

"You are not being very attractive."

"I'm not trying to be attractive! I just want you to drink this tea!" he snapped.

"I don't want to drink tea because you're not being attractive."

"That doesn't make sense!"

"Not attractive."

"Then a bath," he decided, changing the subject and setting the tea on the table.

"I took a bath this morning."

"You smell," he lied.

Mio smelled herself. "I don't."

"You do," he continued, serious.

"You're lying. I can see it in your face."

"I'm not lying!"

"You're being annoying, Madara!"

Madara was taken aback. "What did you say?"

"You are being very annoying," she repeated, enunciating each word slowly.

She proceeded to stand and walk out of the room. She stormed down the hall in a zigzag until she hit a corner. She literally hit the corner instead of turning it and fell on her ass. He watched her get back on her feet and wobble towards the nearest staircase. He was sure he heard her stumble on the way up, but didn't follow her immediately.

Madara picked up the mug of tea before going upstairs to join her. He was certain she would be going to their room. When he reached the second floor, he found the door to one of the guest room's opened and Mio lying in the middle of the floor with her clothes half on. He crouched down beside her and pulled her hair out of her face.

She was dead asleep. He nudged her and she didn't even move.

He set aside the mug of tea and grabbed hold of her arms, hoisting her up in his. He carried her to their room, pulled out the futon, and laid her down on it. He threw the blankets over her, grateful that she was asleep. She'd wake up eventually.

Mio didn't wake up until the dead of night. He wouldn't have noticed if she hadn't woken him.

"Madara. What happened?" she asked groggily. "Did I drink too much?"

"Yes, you threw a mahjong tile at Keigo's face."

She sounded alarmed. "Why would I do that?"

He sat up to get out of the futon once his own grogginess subsided. "Because boasting is not an attractive quality."

"No," she whispered, the sound muffled by her hands, which he imagined were covering her mouth. "He must hate me."

Madara stood and lit a candle to fill the room with soft light. She was sitting up, rubbing her eyes.

He served her a cup of water from the pitcher they kept atop a dresser, handing it to her.

"He doesn't," Madara said, sitting behind her. He still felt as though he were half-asleep as he leaned forward to rest his head on her shoulder. "Just drink the water."

Mio took quiet sips. "My head and face hurt. Why does my face hurt?"

"You hit a corner," he answered, yawning into his hand.

"I hit a corner?"

He laughed at the memory. Only in his mind, he experienced in slower motion.

"It's not funny."

"It's funny. You just weren't there."

"Did I hurt anyone else?"

"Not physically, but you did manage to ensure Yayoi thought twice before drooling over that Amamori shinobi again."

"I should apologize."

She tried to get up, but he wrapped his arms around her waist to stop her.

"The storm's bad. You can't see anything out there," he said. "You can apologize tomorrow."

As if on cue, the windows were rattled violently by a howling wind, making her jolt.

Madara peered over her shoulder at the cup of water sitting in her hands, there was only a bit left. He took it from her and drank the rest. "Sleep will make you feel better."

He left the cup to sit outside the futon. When he sank down into the futon, he took her down with him, keeping her in his arms. The heat radiating off her skin made it easy for him to drift back into sleep.

Mio turned around to lie facing him. "I don't like mahjong."

"Huh?"

"I don't like it. It's a stupid game."

He snorted. "Yeah, so stick to hanafuda."

"I thought about learning how to play shogi. They say it isn't hard. Akira is going to teach—"

The wind chimes clanked noisily, windows shaking.

"—me."

Madara peered down at her. Her face was bright with excitement, dark eyes eager. He wanted to ask her to stop with all the games, but she…

She looked cute. Always excited and determined with each game she learned, always with a smile on her face. Something about that mirthful energy made her look very cute.

Damnit.

"You forgot to blow out the candle," she told him.

He noticed as soon as he had opened his eyes, but would have ignored it if she had not mentioned it.

"I'll get it." She got out from under his arm and went to blow out the candle.

Once she made it back into the futon, she crawled back underneath his arm. Madara grimaced at the thought of his absent brother.

"Mio, where's Izuna?" he asked.

"I should have just gotten my love fortune read," she said, ignoring his question completely.

"What? Why?"

She nuzzled his neck. "No reason. Just curiosity."

"I thought you hated the future."

"Not the one with you." She kissed his neck. "I like that one." Her hand came up to his cheek. "Hm? Did you get warm?"

"N-No!" he barked, drawing away from her. His face was flushed.

"I just need you to know that I don't want any other future but that one," she continued, sounding quite passionate that it caught him off guard. She lifted herself up to kiss him. "Good night."

"Mio?"

"Hm?"

"My brother?"

"I ate him," she said without preamble.

Madara frowned. "Where is he?"

"I love you."

" _Mio?_ "

She started breathing deeply. He knew she was faking, but he couldn't do anything to get the answer out of her.

"Damnit."

Where the hell did he run off to and how did he get Mio to cover for him?


	6. A Day's Wish Granted

**Story** : Of Ivory Lies and Blackened Hearts

 **Pairing** ( **s** ): Izuna|Itoko

 **Word Count** : 2254

 **Rating** : T

 **Summary** : Izuna surprises Itoko by taking her out…and drops a bombshell on her before the night is out.

 **Author's Comment** : What is this special? Izuna and Itoko are cute. Itoko blushes as much as a shoujo manga heroine and I love her for it. **  
**

 _ **Originally posted on February 14, 2015. Written as a Valentine's Day special.  
**_

* * *

 **A Day's Wish Granted**

"Boo!"

Itoko yelped, frightened, tripping over her own feet in her attempt to escape. She slammed into the ground hard, heart hammering wildly in her chest, as laughter reached her ears. She turned towards the window, holding her heaving chest, while Izuna climbed into the room laughing boisterously at her reaction.

How was she supposed to react? One moment, she had been rearranging things in her master's workroom and the next Izuna had appeared hanging upside down in the window spooking her. She wished she hadn't reacted as embarrassingly as she had, seeing as he had not stopped making fun of her.

Her face heated. "Izuna!"

"I'm sorry," he said between laughs. "I didn't think I'd actually scare you." He reached down to take her arms, helping her back on her feet. "There. You're all good."

She wasn't, but she nodded. Truth was that her heart was still pounding wildly in her chest.

Izuna cupped her cheeks, leaning forward to press his forehead against hers. "You can yell at me if you want," he said. "I shouldn't have scared you like that. It was in poor taste."

"I wouldn't yell at you," said Itoko softly, covering his hands with her own. Her cheeks flushed because of the proximity of his face. She didn't think she'd ever get used to being with him. He was so kind, so honest, and so beautiful that she found it hard to believe he could like someone like her. She didn't understand what he saw in her.

"Sorry," he said with a boyish grin. "Now, prepare yourself, I'm going to give you the best kiss I've given you yet." He kissed her with a loud smacking sound, done in a joking matter that made her smile softly. "Good, wasn't it?"

She agreed with a nod.

"No good?" he asked, tilting his head to have a better look at her face. "We can try again." He grinned. "I've got a kiss that would make your toes curl."

The blush on her cheeks darkened.

"Want to try it?"

Itoko stared at him stunned. What was she supposed to say to that?

"No?"

She covered her face with both hands. "Please, stop teasing me."

He chuckled. "Okay, okay, I'll stop." He took her hands and pulled them from her face. "Have you anything to do today?"

Itoko shook her head. "I was just finishing here."

He nodded, surveying his surroundings with profound interest, treating the workroom as if it were the most interesting place he ever encountered.

"I didn't expect to see you here," she admitted. He was a rare sight, which made her even more delighted to see him because she didn't often. "Can you be here?"

"Oh, yeah, I asked Mio to cover for me," he replied. "I have a good two weeks before my brother gets suspicious about my absence."

"That was kind of her."

"Yeah, so, you should take advantage and let me take you somewhere." He looked around. "If we leave now, we can make it before sunset."

"I'd have to ask Akiyoshi—"

The door slid apart noisily. "A _ha_ , I knew I smelled an uninvited guest."

Both of them turned to the entrance where Kaoru stood eyeing them mirthfully.

"Akiyoshi-san, you surprised me," Itoko said nervously.

Akiyoshi Kaoru, her master's assistant, wouldn't fall for any of their excuses.

"And you, Izuna-kun, have you not heard of doors? Should I introduce you to a few?"

"I've heard of doors, I just don't like using them," Izuna said cheekily.

"Lovely." Kaoru's smile fell. "If you mean to bother Itoko, stop yourself. Koike-san will likely have something prepared for her to do when he returns."

"I am sure of it," Izuna said calmly. "But can I borrow her for a few hours? You see there's this festival and I really want to take her there."

"A festival?" Kaoru nodded. "What festival?"

"I can tell you that it's not one you've never heard of."

Kaoru folded her arms over her chest. "Hmm. For how long?"

"Not too long."

"Please, Akiyoshi-san," Itoko said. "I'll make up for what time is lost."

Kaoru sighed. "Fine, go." She fixed her eyes on Izuna. "But you take care of her."

"I swear on my brother's life," Izuna vowed.

"You do a lot of swearing on that brother's life. It makes me doubt you have a brother at all, particularly for all the promises you've broken," Kaoru commented.

"Oh, he's very real. You wouldn't want to meet him," Izuna said. "He's very serious, very grumpy."

Very intimidating was the better word. Itoko saw him during the wedding and the Uchiha shinobi oozed power, stronger than any other seated with him.

"I'll cover for you with Koike-san," Kaoru told her.

Itoko smiled. "Thank you, Akiyoshi-san."

"But use the door this time, we have plenty." Kaoru left the room, shouting after, "Have fun, Itoko."

"What about me?" shouted Izuna.

"Take care of her!"

Izuna frowned.

Itoko beamed at him. "So, where will we go? To that festival?"

"That's still a secret." He took her hand, leading her towards the window, but stopping abruptly. "Oh wait, we have to use doors. Let's go the other way."

Izuna guided her far from the town, carrying her on his back for the greater part of the journey to shorten it. A shinobi, as expected, was quicker on their feet, covering more ground than she would have ever hoped to do so on her own. He took her along a dirt path until they reached a fork in the road. She recognized the path in both directions, but didn't know how far one went compared to the other. It so happen that he did, as he took the pathway she held the less knowledge over.

There were long twining roads surrounded by tall, planes of grass that turned into rolling hills with the occasional patch of flowers.

He came to a sudden stop in a wide grassy area at what seemed to be the edge of a cliff, making her wonder if they had reached the end of the island. He put her down, allowing her to wander to confirm her thoughts. However, Itoko was surprised to see that the island did not end. They were standing on elevated ground with a clear view of a large town below surrounded by farmlands.

It was a beautiful view all around. Above, the sky was a vast brilliant blue full of clouds, in their surrounding area, there were fresh blooms and tall grass with flowering trees every few acres.

"Will we be going into town?" asked Itoko, turning to Izuna.

"We could if you want," he said, moving to stand behind her. He surprised her by wrapping his arms around her waist, burying his face in her shoulder. "I just wanted to see you."

Itoko's heart fluttered, cheeks blushing. She shied away from responding, knowing if she did her voice would be tremulous. She didn't see him as often as she'd like. She wanted to see him every day, truth be told, but she understood that'd be impossible. He was a shinobi. He spent his time going to and from the Fire Country, traveling far, doing jobs for lords, or fighting.

He lived day by day busy. Knowing this, she knew better than to have unrealistic expectations, but that never stopped her from wanting to be near him. So she treasured the moments he could spare at her side.

Itoko covered his hands with hers.

How could she express how she wanted to see him all the time?

"I'm sorry, would you rather do something more exciting?" asked Izuna. "I'm sure if we look, we'll find something."

Itoko shook her head. "No, I'm okay here."

Izuna released her to take a seat on the grass. He took her by the hand and tugged at her to sit. She crouched down, sweeping an hand underneath her kimono to ensure it remained unwrinkled, and sat beside him.

"Are you busy in the Fire Country?" asked Itoko, though the silence between them was comfortable.

"Not exactly," he answered. "Yayoi was trying to get everyone to celebrate a Sun Country festival though."

"What kind of festival is it?"

"A lover's festival."

He looked at her and her face flushed.

"A lover's festival?" she repeated, nervous. She didn't understand the reason for her sudden embarrassment.

"Yeah, but she just needed an excuse to read love fortunes. Did you get to have your fortune read by her? She's very good."

"Have you?"

He grinned. He wouldn't answer.

"She offered, but I didn't want to know," said Itoko.

"Why not?"

She shook her head. She didn't want to get into that again.

"It's better that way," he said.

She agreed with a nod. She stared out into the sky, at the shapeless clouds moving as sunset drew closer, dyeing the pale blue a light orange hue that spread slowly.

She was starting to see why Izuna chose this particular place. "It's beautiful here."

Izuna's dark eyes were fixed on her when she glimpsed in his direction. Her first reaction was to turn away to hide her blush, but felt his fingers under chin guide her face closer to his. He pressed a chaste kiss on her lips that made her heart flutter.

He treated her so gently that she always felt so fragile in his arms. Thinking this made her face grow hotter.

Izuna draped an arm around her shoulder, pulling her closer to him. He kissed her again. She let him envelop her in his arms, felt the heat radiating from his body warm hers. She wrapped her arms around him, feeling his strong back beneath her palms.

He smiled against her lips seconds before drawing back. "We should go somewhere further than this when we have the time. Beyond the Tea Country."

"Where?"

"I don't know," he said, releasing her. "Do you have any preferences?"

She shook her head. "Anywhere is fine."

"We can just go everywhere."

Itoko smiled. "Yes, let's go everywhere."

Izuna dropped down to lie on the grass using one arm as a pillow. He patted the space beside him.

Itoko joined him, resting her head on his shoulder. His arm wrapped around her, pulling her close.

"Where would we go first?" she asked.

"We could start with the neighboring countries."

"And then?"

"We can try going somewhere far. Maybe somewhere we both haven't gone before."

"Yes," she said, propping herself up to stare down at his face. "I love visiting new places."

Izuna raised his face, kissing her. "I know. So, we need to visit many."

She returned her head against his shoulder, draping her arm across his torso. She made herself comfortable at his side. He made it so easy for her to feel at ease. It was so simple for her to close her eyes and fall asleep in the comfort of his presence.

She lost track of time.

Itoko jolted awake, feeling Izuna's hand squeeze her shoulder in reassurance. She sat up quickly, barely able to see through the darkness. The moon was a small strip in the sky that provided little illumination.

"It's dark!" she said, startled.

"Sorry, I didn't want to wake you," Izuna replied, standing up. He brushed the grass off his back.

"But Akiyoshi-san and my master—"

"Don't worry," he assured. "I'll get you home as quickly as possible."

Itoko nodded.

True to his word, Izuna took her home as fast as possible, but Kaoru was standing outside waiting for them. She looked worried.

Itoko apologized deeply.

"That's fine," said Kaoru. "I was worried something might have happened."

"I said I'd take care of her," Izuna informed.

"These are not hours to be bringing home a lady, people will misunderstand," Kaoru criticized, ever protective.

"Misunderstand what? We did sleep together—"

"Izuna!" cried Itoko, face as bright red as a tomato. Kaoru stared at them blankly as Itoko turned to her, determined to explain. "It isn't what you think, Akiyoshi-san."

Izuna laughed. "It isn't," he said. "We just wanted to do a little stargazing since we were already running late."

"I want you inside immediately," Kaoru said, stalking into the house, glaring at Izuna the entire time.

He continued laughing, even long after the door was shut. She stood there, covering her face with her hands, quite embarrassed by the misunderstanding. She hadn't thought about doing such things with Izuna. She didn't feel she was ready.

"She'll get used to it once we're married," he said, patting her shoulder.

"Stop teasing me," Itoko cried, face growing hotter.

"I'm not teasing, she's going to have to get used to me because I am marrying you," he said. The surety in his voice made her look at his face. She searched it for any hint of amusement, but he was quite serious, which made it that much more embarrassing for her. She thought she'd overload. "We're going to do it before we go on that journey everywhere."

"What?"

"I just haven't decided if I want Yayoi to marry us," he continued.

She was suddenly at a loss for words.

"She would love to do it, but I don't trust her."

Wait, what?

"With what?"

"You know what? We can just do whatever you want. Think about it." He leaned forward to kiss her. "Now, go inside and get some sleep. I'll see you tomorrow."

Izuna walked away, turning halfway down the street to wave before jumping onto a rooftop noiselessly and disappearing when he leapt off it.

Maybe he meant something different?

Itoko slowly made her way inside. She swore her heart was beating so loud the entire neighborhood could hear it.


	7. Black Feeling

**Story** : Kintsugi

 **Pairing** ( **s** ): Madara|Mio

 **Word Count** : 1606

 **Rating** : T

 **Summary** : A companion/follow up piece to Kintsugi 13 in Madara's POV.

 _ **Originally posted on** **August 22, 2015.**_

* * *

 **Black Feeling**

Madara entered the guestroom quietly, relieving Yayoi of her duties.

"She fell asleep after a bath," Yayoi told him at the door, whispering. Keigo stood with them, ready to escort the priestess as soon as she gave the order. "We played hanafuda all afternoon."

He thanked her and let her go; Keigo followed her after bowing deeply to him.

Madara picked up one of the plain linen robes in the closet to take with him to the bathhouse. He checked on Mio before leaving, brushing the hair away from her face. Her skin was warm, the exact temperature he recognized as her own. She had been burning up when he had left her in Yayoi's care. It was relieving to know she was doing better.

He returned half an hour later and slid into the futon beside hers. He stared at the nape of her neck, wishing he could have done more for her when she experienced that fit, but understood that he couldn't when she had that adverse reaction to his touch. He had seen that frightened look in her eyes few times before and knew the emotion behind them was linked to the past. He had known only the obvious, the little she spoke of, and the assumptions that he had made. He had not wanted to push her into speaking of things that she had no desire to relive in spoken word.

A part of him felt guilt knowing she underwent something terrible in the Earth Country to save him. He had been grateful to her—he would _never_ not owe her his life—but he wished she had not suffered. He wanted her to be happy. He wanted her to always be happy. He didn't want to see her hurt. He didn't want her to sacrifice her chance at happiness for anyone. He wished she were a little more selfish with her life.

And yet he felt he had done her a disservice by behaving the way he had these last couple of weeks. He had been frustrated because she had decided to make Izuna a Guardian. When they had talked things over, everything had settled between them. He had not anticipated Eishirou. He had not imagined that that simpleton would have managed to get underneath his skin.

He had no reason to doubt Mio. It had never crossed his mind that Mio's feelings weren't strong or that there existed a possibility that she could be tempted. Eavesdropping in her conversation with Eishirou that night on the ship had made him question everything that he hadn't before. He had been filled with dark thoughts that had provoked his anger. The next time he had seen her, he had tried to calm himself, but he had pushed her against the wall too hard that it had alerted Yayoi and Keigo. He had barely gotten a word out, but had made it obvious that he had overheard her conversation with him before he had stomped away.

He hated the distrust he felt towards her, knowing that Eishirou spent so much time hovering around her. He despised the inherent need he had to do with Eishirou what he had done to Enki, but he had to remind himself of his actions that day. Taking Enki's head from his shoulders had given him no satisfaction. It had showed him a part of himself that he had not known existed—a dark part of his persona that had gone blind with jealousy and rage. He had pictured Enki putting his hands on Mio's pale skin and it had infuriated him knowing that she had resigned herself to whatever fate Ayuka had prepared for her. He had done the same with Eishirou, except it had been different. He had seen her smile coyly at him with a glint in her dark eyes and he had imagined her in his arms covered in opulence.

His mistrust had been directed at the wrong person.

Mio wouldn't betray him. Not in that sense.

It took him a while to feel good about that. He could apologize and put his trust in her.

She married him after all. He didn't force her. It wasn't a political marriage. They had, despite their guilt, come together and pledged to find happiness in one another.

"Madara?" Mio looked over her shoulder groggily. She sounded startled. Upon seeing his face, her expression softened. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

He shook his head, taking the hand she reached out towards him. He held it gently in his, brushing the knuckles with his thumb. "You don't need to apologize," he said lowly. "There is nothing for you to feel sorry about."

He heard her sob and wanted nothing more than to take her into his arms, but he wanted to be patient with her. If she needed her space, he would give it to her.

"I can go somewhere else—"

Her grip tightened suddenly. "No. Please don't."

He nodded.

"I don't want to be alone," she said tearfully. "I don't want to see his face anymore, but I still do. I close my eyes and he's there."

"I'm here with you, Mio," he told her, "and that man will never hurt you again."

"I know," she whispered, "but he hurt me enough that I could never forget every death and every humiliation." She wiped the tears with her sleeve and squeezed his hand a little harder. "It makes me feel so weak. I'm so scared, Madara. I'm sorry."

"You don't have to apologize," he repeated.

Two years ago, his grandmother had told him to be patient after they had had an argument in which she had misunderstood his reasons for not pursuing Mio. She had been sitting on her futon, dealing with another bout of illness, and had spoken lowly, " _What Mio went through with Mikazuki Gouki is not something that will ever be easy for her to talk about. That man took so much from her. She is a strong girl and you know that she is, but she will not always be as strong as she wishes. Sometimes, she'll be frail and you will need to support her. That is what you do for the people that you love, Madara. You offer them your hand when they need help, offer them your presence when they don't wish to be alone, and you offer them your love when they want it. Be patient with her. Never push her. If you love her, be with her. She never deserved this. Nobody deserves to go through what she went through, but this is the world in which we live and we can do nothing about that. We can only move forward and heal with time._ "

"Everything will be okay," he continued. "Don't force yourself…don't think you need to be sorry for anything. I will do anything for you."

She hiccupped, nodding. "But I—I hate…I h-hate that sometimes—that I can't _be_ with you because sometimes…sometimes my mind just goes back to that v-very dark place and I—I can, sometimes I can feel…I can feel his hands on me and I—" She sobbed into her cupped hand. "I hate it. I hate it so much. I never want to push you away. I don't want this to get between us too."

"I said it before and it will always be true, nothing will make me love you less," he told her. He wished to kiss the knuckles of her hand, but did not. He feared she would pull away if he were too forward.

She trembled, reaching to clasp his hand with the other. She closed her eyes and sucked in a shuddering breath. She reopened her eyes and moved to him, burying herself in his arms.

"I love you," she said, heartfelt, "I love you. I love you. I love you."

Over and over, she repeated her sentiments, each inflection of her voice more painful than the last. It sounded as if it hurt her to love him. He wished it didn't, hoped her was imagining things because he couldn't stand seeing her in pain. She clung to him and he squeezed her smaller frame against him, wanting her ache to leave her so she could finally sleep peacefully.

He kissed the side of her head, unable to help himself. "I love you."

Mio fell asleep in his arms.

Madara woke up to Mio mumbling in her sleep. It was hard to make out the words at first, but her continued repetition and familiarity made it easy to decipher. Continuously, she rambled, " _to the mountains of her creation, she absconded for ten springs, and rose from the depths…._ "

"… _with a globe filled with storms_ ," finished Madara, his eyes fixed on the Time Sphere sitting underneath her arm. The pale smoke that covered its surface spun restlessly and gave off an odd pale glow. He reached out to touch the globe and found it to be warm, very unlike he remembered it. The Time Sphere was always cold to the touch.

Perpetually active, the Time Sphere acted as the linchpin to the others. It took chakra from its Shugosha and distributed it evenly to power the other nine artifacts.

Madara lowered his eyes to the red bracelet tied to his wrist. That artifact was the only one not receiving chakra.

He decided to let her sleep and asked one of the shinobi posted on their floor to make sure she eats breakfast when she woke up. He agreed to meet with Mahiro that morning for a strategic meeting using the information his scouts brought back.


	8. Sleepy Mornings

**Story** : Kintsugi

 **Pairing** ( **s** ): Madara|Mio

 **Word Count** : 100

 **Rating** : T

 **Author's Comment** : Do I want to write more domestic MadaMio? Yes, I do, and I will. Enjoy!

If you want to see any couple or character in certain situations from this story, let me know. I'm taking suggestions! If I feel inspired by a suggestion or feel that I can make it work, I'll write them!

 _ **Originally posted on November 22, 2017 for 30 Days of Short Fiction. For more information on 30DoSF, please refer to the pinned entry on at my wordpress, linked available in my profile, or read the vague explanation under the announcements header on my profile page.**_

* * *

 **Sleepy Mornings**

Madara rose with the sun, half expecting Mio to be on her morning run, but turned to find her burrowed under the blankets, shivering in the chill, eyes squeezed shut.

He took the dried-up washcloth from above her head, sliding out from underneath her arm, but when he reached the edge of the futon, she stirred, grabbing hold of him and dragging him back under her arm. She huddled closer.

Through the fabric of his clothes, her skin burned hotter.

"It's cold," she grumbled.

Unsurprised, he said, slightly exasperated, "Wear clothes to bed, it's the middle of winter."


	9. In the morning light

**Story** : Of Ivory Lies and Blackened Hearts

 **Pairing** ( **s** ): Izuna|Itoko

 **Word Count** : 100

 **Rating** : T

 **Author's Comment** : I had to write something for these two in case I didn't get a chance to later. Enjoy.

If you want to see any couple or character in certain situations from this story, let me know. I'm taking suggestions! If I feel inspired by a suggestion or feel that I can make it work, I'll write them!

 _ **Originally posted on November 27, 2017 for 30 Days of Short Fiction. For more information on 30DoSF, please refer to the pinned entry on at my wordpress, linked available in my profile, or read the vague explanation under the announcements header on my profile page.**_

* * *

 **In the morning light**

Izuna enjoys watching Itoko mend clothes. She loops the thread through the fabric, her back slightly hunched forward, and a tiny wrinkle between her pale eyebrows. She wears her hair tied at the base of her neck, but since she's cut it shorter than she was accustomed to strands slide from the navy-blue ribbon and brush across her cheeks.

He notices the instance she realizes she's being watched. Her progress slows and her face reddens. She glimpses at him, lips pressed into a line, and returns her attention to her needlework.

And she's given him peace he's never known before.


	10. The Nature of Acceptance

**Story** : Kintsugi

 **Pairing** ( **s** ): None

 **Word Count** : 100

 **Rating** : T

 **Author's Comment** : Is this repetitive? I want to deconstruct Mio as a character in some of these just because I don't feel I've done the best job in the story (and I want to make some things clearer about her in the rewrite).

If you want to see any couple or character in certain situations from this story, let me know. I'm taking suggestions! If I feel inspired by a suggestion or feel that I can make it work, I'll write them!

 _ **Originally posted on November 30, 2017 for 30 Days of Short Fiction. For more information on 30DoSF, please refer to the pinned entry on at my wordpress, linked available in my profile, or read the vague explanation under the announcements header on my profile page.**_

* * *

 **The Nature of Acceptance**

"Did it hurt to know that Madara was being shopped around for an alliance?" asked Izuna.

Mio ruminated on the feelings she attached to the word "hurt" as she picked up the hanafuda cards from the tatami between them, preparing for a second game.

"Madara has a duty to his clan as its leader," Mio replied. "I knew that I would eventually be confronted with the prospect of Madara being married to someone."

Izuna leaned forward, a frown shaping his lips. "So, are you saying that if it had come to that, you would accept it?"

"I never said that."


	11. Fear Weighs Heavy on the Heart

**Story** : Kintsugi

 **Pairing** ( **s** ): Madara|Mio

 **Word Count** : 438

 **Rating** : T

 **Author's Comment** : Had this lying around in a hard drive, gave it a once over and uploaded it. Consider it a preview for the future.

There's also a poll up on my profile, so check it out!

If you want to see any couple or character in certain situations from this story, let me know. I'm taking suggestions! If I feel inspired by a suggestion or feel that I can make it work, I'll write them!

 _ **Originally posted on December 5, 2017 for 30 Days of Short Fiction. For more information on 30DoSF, please refer to the pinned entry on at my wordpress, linked available in my profile, or read the vague explanation under the announcements header on my profile page.**_

* * *

 **Fear Weighs Heavy on the Heart**

Madara found Mio as he last remembered with her back to the door, leaning over the table pouring over the glowing branching pathways in the Fate Sphere. Her eyes scanned the long, thin lines diverging from the bead blood offered. She moved her hand across the surface as he slid the shoji screen closed, watching that as she did, the pathways changed, moving in different directions.

Madara reached for the sash around his waist, tugging the knot loose to remove it. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing," she answered, too quickly.

He let her off on that suspicious response as he pulled off his torn shirt, setting it atop the drawers to have it mended later, and cleaned the drying blood off his arm. His brother nicked him with his sword during training. It was a shallow wound, but it bled freely for a little longer than anticipated.

Madara left the room to take a bath, thinking about besting Izuna during their next sparring match. He replayed the final minutes of their battle, picking it apart detail to detail until he saw what he did wrong. He would make sure not to commit the same mistake again.

He returned upstairs and Mio was the same. He took the seat across her, drawing her eyes to him.

"Do you plan to sit there all night?" he asked.

"Perhaps."

"Why are you doing this?"

Mio hesitated before speaking. "I have been looking for ways to ensure I conceive daughters," she admitted. "I am pinpointing days and hours that might help in seeing this happen, but…"

Madara sighed. "But you only see a son."

She nodded.

"You already have a pair of daughters in Yuuka and Noe," Madara said, seeing it brought a smile to her face. "What difference will it make for us to have a son?"

"I don't know," she replied, "and that's the problem."

"There's no guarantee we won't have a daughter after him."

Mio lowered her eyes, nodding. She waved her hand over the Fate Sphere's surface and everything atop it seeped into the pages, disappearing. She rolled up the scroll and set it aside.

"Is that all?" he asked. Although, she seemed relieved with his suggestion, he felt she was keeping something else from him.

"I'm a little afraid," she said, stealing a glimpse of his face.

"Of?"

"That I might not be strong enough to keep him safe."

"We will be enough," he emphasized, moving to join her. He wrapped an arm around her, drawing her in to his body, pressing his mouth close to the top of her head. "Nobody will ever come near him."


	12. The Wave Country Festival

**Story** : Redesign

 **Pairing** ( **s** ): Implied Madara|Mio

 **Word Count** : 500

 **Rating** : T

 **Author's Comment** : This was a request I received on wordpress from **Marion**. Thank you for the suggestion. Here's a bit of context to serve as a refresher. In chapter 8 of Redesign, Chika invited Izuna, Madara, and Mio to a big festival in the Wave Country where she suggested they leave Madara and Mio alone to test how well they would get along - or something along those lines.

Age-wise, they would be teenagers still. This might be a little AUish as I don't think it fits with the timeline, but I had a lot of fun and wished I could've expanded this into something much longer than a postcard story. Maybe later.

Enjoy.

 _ **Originally posted on December 13, 2017 for 30 Days of Short Fiction. For more information on 30DoSF, please refer to the pinned entry on at my wordpress, linked available in my profile, or read the vague explanation under the announcements header on my profile page.**_

* * *

 **The Wave Country Festival**

Chika asked Izuna away on the pretense of a forgotten coin purse, and together, they left Madara and Mio alone in the middle of the noisy, overpopulated festival.

Izuna and Chika didn't stray too far, but he monitored the distance they kept from the two. Both would be able to find them out if he wasn't too careful.

"I don't think this is a good idea," said Izuna, watching his brother and Mio loitering among the food stands. "They haven't moved since we left."

"Why didn't she wear a yukata?" asked Chika, the dangling jewels attached to the ends of her hairpin clinked softly. "I had several designs taken to her room, even a Koike Tetsuo original."

Izuna turned to Chika. "A what?"

"They're moving!"

Chika pointed Madara out as he walked into an oncoming crowd of festival goers with Mio following close behind. Izuna and Chika started to follow them, mingling themselves among the people and stands. He allowed Chika to lead him when she felt the need to explore, but he kept an eye on his brother and Mio, curious of the quiet between them because he had seen it before. It alarmed him the first time he witnessed it. Peace existed between them and it was not like the comfort he recognized in Mio when she was with him.

Mio halted in front of a food stand and once Madara noticed—contrary to Izuna's belief—he went back to stand by her side. Mio handed Madara two sticks of dango, keeping one for herself. She handed payment to the vendor with the tiniest of smiles. Izuna thought Madara appeared taken by her, captivated for the briefest second before his scowl returned. Madara said something to Mio that made her grimace after he had walked away.

The longer Izuna and Chika stayed away, the easier it appeared for Madara and Mio to go around the location.

Chika took Izuna by the hand, pulling him down a different direction. "I know a nice place to see the fireworks," she said. He hesitated. "They've been getting along well enough, nothing's going to happen within the next half hour or so."

They retraced their steps once the firework display ended and found Madara and Mio standing in an embankment by a river a mile away from the festival's location where the lights were visible, but they were quite removed from the people. He noticed that tranquility between them, the easiness that enveloped them, and it made him uncomfortable.

Izuna arrived at the right time because the two separated immediately. Chika giggled, bounding towards Mio, asking if she saw the fireworks. Madara said nothing to him, only acknowledged his return with a nod before departing.

Mio remained, attempting to behave normal, but Izuna could almost feel the rush of her heart. He saw the fading flush on her cheeks, the reddening of her ears under the hazy full moon.

Izuna could've sworn that Madara had almost kissed her.

What that their peace?


	13. Return Home

**Story** : Of Ivory Lies

 **Pairing** ( **s** ): Izuna|Itoko

 **Word Count** : 100

 **Rating** : T

 **Author's Comment** : It's hard to write about these two without it entering huge spoiler territory, but this has helped me sort of shape how I want things to go down once I get the story started once more.

Given that this is the last contribution to the 30DoSF for this story, I'm going to be marking this story as "Completed." That said, feel free to continue to follow it for possible future updates.

 _ **Originally posted on December 16, 2017 for 30 Days of Short Fiction. For more information on 30DoSF, please refer to the pinned entry on at my wordpress, linked available in my profile, or read the vague explanation under the announcements header on my profile page.**_

* * *

 **Return Home**

The day Izuna stared deep into her eyes and told her that she was his home, she heard her heart crack. She wanted the security of his word from the moment she realized she loved him, that her feelings had evolved with their relationship and that she couldn't be a replacement, because she saw the way he looked a her, seeing past her to his brother's silent mistress.

The day he finally said it, it scared her.

And every day since, she waited for him when he said he'd arrive. Always waiting on the day that he wouldn't show up.


	14. Winter Fire

**Story** : Kintsugi

 **Pairing** ( **s** ): None

 **Word Count** : 490

 **Author's Comment** : This takes place a year prior to the current storyline. Minor spoilers, though.

 _ **Originally posted on December 4, 2018 for my 30 Days of Short Fiction. For more information on 30DoSF, please refer to the pinned entry on my WordPress, xlilim – link available in my profile.**_

 _ **I am taking suggestions! If you want to see any couple or character from the story in certain situations, let me know. If I feel inspired by the idea, I will write them! You can PM me, leave a review, or comment on the 30DoSF WordPress page.**_

* * *

 _Winter Fire_

Mio woke up to the sound of an axe cleaving wood in the tiny courtyard outside. She tugged on a knit sweater over her plain robe and ventured out of the guest room. She stepped into the verandah facing the courtyard and wrapped her sweater tighter over her body.

Tobirama set another log atop the weathered trunk and swung the axe down, splitting the wood in one fluid movement.

"Did they put you to work?" asked Mio.

"I volunteered," he replied. "We're intruding on them, it is the least we can do."

"If you'd prefer to stay somewhere else, there were plenty of inns on the road here."

"Nonsense!" cried Keigo, sliding the doors open behind her. "We have everything that you need here—free food, lodgings, company—so you should stay right here. Plus, didn't you hear my mom and pops are going to build the biggest bon fire to ever spawn. It's for the Winter Fire Festival. That's why Tobirama here is cutting up all this wood. I'm about to go into the forest to bring another tree. Of course, I gotta go get some more man power, 'cause I can't haul a whole tree over here."

"You should take her," said Tobirama, slicing another log into halves. "She's probably strong enough to uproot a whole tree with her bare hands."

Well, she never tried it before, but she could probably do it.

"Oh, can you? Can you, please?" Keigo clung to the hem of her sweater and looked at her with sparkling eyes. "Please, please!"

Mio sighed. "Let me go get dressed."

Hours later, once the preparations were done and the Winter Fire Festival was in full swing with the few village people sharing drinks and street food, Mio stood beside Tobirama in front of the tower of flames engulfing the wooden scaffolding built from all of the wooden logs he had cut up.

"I'm grateful for your company," Mio admitted. "I wouldn't be able to do this on my own."

"I was ordered here," said Tobirama curtly, his arms folded over his chest. "If you didn't want to come alone, you should've asked that husband of yours to accompany you instead."

"He's not my husband," she said. "And, he wouldn't understand. I needed someone that would be indifferent to what I would be doing. You're perfect." She turned to him, staring up at the scowling white-haired shinobi. "You don't even care what happens to me, so you won't stop me when the time comes."

Tobirama opened his mouth, as if he were about to rebuke her, but he swallowed his words. "Hmm."

Keigo appeared next to her with a skin of warm sake and a face flushed. "Have a drink."

She took a swig of the alcohol, grateful for the warmth that traveled down her throat, and presented it to Tobirama. "Just a sip?"

Tobirama grabbed it and drank deep of the rice wine. "Thanks."


	15. Youth

**Story** : Redesign

 **Pairing** ( **s** ): None

 **Word Count** : 1556

 **Author's Comment** : Hello! This piece was the result of a suggestion from **Marion** on WordPress. I hope you enjoy because I certainly did, considering this one was much longer than all the other pieces being posted today.

 _ **Originally posted on December 8, 2018 for my 30 Days of Short Fiction. For more information on 30DoSF, please refer to the pinned entry on my WordPress, xlilim – link available in my profile.**_

 _ **I am taking suggestions! If you want to see any couple or character from the story in certain situations, let me know. If I feel inspired by the idea, I will write them! You can PM me, leave a review, or comment on the 30DoSF WordPress page.**_

* * *

 _Youth_

"I'm going to what from my where?" asked Mio, baffled by her mother's rather awkward explanation of womanhood.

Kikyo glimpsed in her husband's direction as Genji busily kneaded dough atop a wooden board on the kitchen counter.

"Consider it a part of growing up, it's natural," he assured, wiping a hand across his chin and smeared flour over it. "It doesn't even hurt."

"Does it happen to you?" asked Mio.

"No."

"How is it natural if it doesn't happen to him? It should happen to him, too." Mio waited on a response from her mother, but Kikyo appeared torn, looking from Mio to her husband.

"You see, women give birth," started Kikyo.

"What does one have to do with the other?" questioned Mio.

"Well, they're closely related. A woman has to bleed every month in order to be able to have children."

"I don't want to."

Genji chuckled. "Well, honey, you don't really get a say in it."

"Well, I'm not going to do it," Mio decided, walking out of the kitchen.

"I think that went well" said Kikyo.

"She just refused to menstruate."

"But at least she knows about it."

* * *

Mio never anticipated she would have the same conversation two years later with Sachiyo. She didn't understand the insistence of it when she had already made her decision.

"It will take some time to adjust to it, but it is normal," Sachiyo finished.

Mio said nothing until Sachiyo awkwardly cleared her throat.

"Well?"

"I'm not going to do it," stated Mio.

"You don't have a choice."

"It's my body, you told me that I get to decide what happens to my body, didn't you? So, I'm not going to bleed every month for three to five days." Mio sat perfectly still atop a striped pattern cushion in front of Sachiyo, surrounded by the vast emptiness of a thoroughly cleaned banquet hall. "Was this everything you wanted to talk about?"

Sachiyo sighed, exasperation wore into the wrinkles around her mouth as she frowned. "Look, Mio, you're a smart girl, so try to understand that this is a biological thing that you can't simply say no to. All children go through a transitional period in their lives in which they grow into their adult bodies. Your body will develop into a womanlier shape and with it you will gain the ability to reproduce. Madara and Izuna are going to go through changes as well. In fact, it's very likely Madara is right in the middle of his growth spurt given that infernal temper of his."

"But he's not going to bleed?"

"No, men don't have a womb to carry children."

"That's stupid."

"Look, Mio, we're not going to go into what is fair or what isn't, this is just how things are. You're going to start bleeding soon and I want you to be prepared for that, just as my boys will have to get ready to face their changes. As shinobi we cannot afford to have these changes cause too big an impediment in our every day lives, so you must adjust to them quickly. Understood?"

"Fine."

Sachiyo waved her off. "Go. You have training to complete."

* * *

"Madara, is your body going through changes?" asked Mio, seated across him in front of a roaring fire contained within a circle of blackened stones. The forest enclosed around them quiet apart from the sound of the river water gushing between boulders.

Madara bit into his cooked fish and arched an eyebrow. "The hell are you on about?"

"I noticed the tenor of your voice is starting to change," she replied. "Sometimes you squeak."

"I do _not_ squeak!"

In protesting, Madara did indeed lose power in the word emphasized when his voice took a sudden dip and produced a cut-off squeak, like a squeak toy on its last leg.

Madara's entire face enflamed as Mio cracked a proud smile.

"Don't you dare laugh at me!" he snapped.

Mio brought her hand to her lips and snickered, unable to stop the laughter that burst forth from inside her.

Madara exploded. He threw his fish to the floor and lunged at her.

Mio slipped out from his reach and ran up the side of the nearest tree, her laughter ringing loud in the dark as Madara cursed her, hot in pursuit.

\- : -

Sachiyo punished them, left them sitting outside in the freezing winter cold and purposely fawned over a bundled-up Izuna that hung out of the window where they had been forced to stay. They had never known a worse envy than seeing Izuna in warm knit sweaters and wrapped in thick scarfs while they suffered three days and four nights of torture because Madara burned down a part of the forest.

"That's a stupid reason to fight!" Izuna choked with laughter after he had been told about their dispute. A mug of warm tea sat on the windowsill next to him—the rising steam lured Mio's gaze to it. She could almost taste the green tea leaves inside of it, feel the heat of the steam warm her upper lip, and smell the slight sweetness of the liquid. The way Kana prepared it was the best.

Madara grumbled beside her.

"Taiga told me that a man's voice changes when their testicles drop," said Mio through clattering teeth. She turned to Madara. "He told me to ask you what testicles were? He said only boys have them."

Madara shoved her. "Why do you have to be so vulgar?"

Mio pushed him back. "I was curious!"

Izuna dropped to the floor with laughter.

"Don't touch me!" shouted Madara, swift to anger.

"Ha! Your voice just cracked!"

"It didn't!"

Madara and Mio earned themselves another day outside for breaking out into another fight. Sachiyo also warned Taiga against speaking to any of her children about any matters related to sex, but a day later, he approached Madara and asked if he had started to grow any hair "down there."

"He has!" announced Izuna. "I saw when he was taking a bath."

Madara clocked Izuna upside the head, his face burning with embarrassment. His mood soured once he realized Mio had overheard the whole conversation and he shoved past her on his way into the house.

Kana burst out of the house and caught Taiga as he was leaving. "Lady Sachiyo told you to stop messing with Madara!"

Taiga laughed. "But it's so much fun!"

"Keep at it, you little brat, and I'll tell them all about how you were a late bloomer!" Kana warned.

"You just told them!" Taiga snarled.

"What's a late bloomer?" asked Izuna, looking to Mio.

Mio shrugged. "Wait, you grow hair down there?"

"I don't have any, look."

Izuna tugged at the top of his pants to show her when Kana intercepted. She had broken a sweat on her rush over. "You can't just show anyone!"

"But it's just Mio! She won't tell anyone."

* * *

Mio woke up in the middle of the night to an odd sensation in her lower abdomen. She touched the area and felt a strange pressure, as if she needed to use the bathroom, so she walked out of her room to the latrine. After pulling her underwear down, she noticed a blood stain in the middle and responded by pulling them back on.

She ran back into the house in tears, bursting into Kana's room, and shook her awake. "I'm bleeding! I think I'm dying!"

Kana snapped out of her disoriented state fast and searched Mio for any visible wounds, but found none when she looked back into her tear-stained face. "From where?"

"I felt like I needed to got to the bathroom and…and there was blood."

Kana relaxed. "Mio, honey, that's natural." She brought her into a warm embrace and patted her hair. "You're not dying. This happens to every girl." She drew back. "Come on. Let's get you cleaned up and get you some warm chamomile tea."

That night, Kana walked Mio through the routine she'd have to follow ever month henceforth and helped her wash up in the bathroom. She even stayed up with her long after Mio had finished her tea, telling her stories about when she bled for the first time.

"I was afraid, too," admitted Kana, brushing back a strand of brown hair that fell back into place after a few seconds. Her gaze was soft as she looked upon Mio's face. "It's strange, but after a while, you'll get used to it. It'll stop being scary at all."

Mio nodded.

"Let's try to keep it between us for a bit, though," Kana suggested.

"Why?"

She lowered her eyes to the table between them. "You're a training spy," she started. "Someday, you'll be ordered to do things for the good of the clan and you'll do them because that's how you are. You won't refuse an order, especially one that comes from the top. I just want you to enjoy as much of your youth as you can."

"Am I even allowed to?" asked Mio. She had promised her life to the Uchiha clan, pledged herself to train until she was worthy of serving their clan's geniuses. She worked toward that and that alone.

"That's why we're keeping it a secret. At least for a little bit."


	16. First Touch

**Story** : Redesign

 **Pairing** ( **s** ): Madara/Mio

 **Word Count** : 537

 **Author's Comment** : This is just me, testing out some new scenes for the re-write of Redesign, so we'll see if they go in or stay, forever immortalized in Jigsaw.

 _ **Originally posted on December 15, 2018 for my 30 Days of Short Fiction. For more information on 30DoSF, please refer to the pinned entry on my WordPress, xlilim – link available in my profile.**_

 _ **I am taking suggestions! If you want to see any couple or character from the story in certain situations, let me know. If I feel inspired by the idea, I will write them! You can PM me, leave a review, or comment on the 30DoSF WordPress page.**_

* * *

 _First Touch_

Mio exited the hall and lingered at the entrance as the acrid taste on her tongue dissolved. She relaxed her hands, wound her shoulders back, and lifted her eyes—staring onward into the long corridor. She exhaled.

"You won't accept it, will you?"

She startled as Madara stepped out in front of her.

"Lady Sachiyo asked that you stop eavesdropping on mission briefs."

"You're my spy," he stated, the irritation in him evident in his gritted teeth. "She doesn't get to send you wherever the hell she wants and excuse it as training."

"You are not yet the leader of our clan." Mio stepped forward, challenging him in the swift movement. "So, you have no authority over me."

Madara pursued her down the hallway and into her room, the door at his back a thin aperture. She turned upon reaching the center of the room and her hair fluffed around her face. She stepped backward as Madara appeared before her, his intimidating aura dwarfing her, and his eyes cut through her as if she had been made of jelly candy.

She raised her hands, palms flat against his chest to stop his body from inching any closer and she lowered her eyes to the ground, her cheeks flushed. He looked so unmistakably powerful and masculine, his jaw locked tight and highlighting the strength in the structure of his face, and his eyes were smoldering black.

"Will you be able to do it?" he asked, his arm wound around her and his hand pressed into the small of her back, pulling her towards him. His lips above her cheek, his breath trickling down like the first rainfall of spring, warm against her cool skin. "Seduce a stranger."

Her heart accelerated. She swallowed hard, but lifted her face and looked him in the eyes. "I can do it even if you think I can't."

"I don't think that you can't," he whispered.

"You do not own me," she reminded, anticipating more from the heat that scorched her back where his hand had settled.

"I want to touch you," he admitted. "I want to kiss you first. Mio, I'm asking you to let me."

Mio kissed him first an pushed him back until he hit the door, making it rattle as he enveloped her in his arms. His hands seeking where to touch and the skin he did settle on, burned.

She managed to get the sweater off his body and her jacket made it to the ground with it, but they must have been making a racket because Sachiyo charged down the hallway, their names shouted from afar, and it offered them little time to separate and pick up their garments.

Sachiyo opened the sliding screen and it slammed into the end of the wall. Mio almost shamefully lowered her gaze to keep the old woman from noticing the bruising of her lips.

"I told you to leave her alone," said Sachiyo, glaring at her grandson.

"You cannot use her however you want, she has a choice, she can pick her jobs," snapped Madara.

"She picked this one."

He looked at her, she turned away. Betrayal. She tasted it in the tension between them just before he stormed out.


	17. At the End of the Road

**Story** : Of Ivory Lies and Blackened Hearts

 **Pairing** ( **s** ): Izuna/Itoko

 **Word Count** : 100

 **Author's Comment** : My tragic couple.

 _ **Originally posted on December 22, 2018 for my 30 Days of Short Fiction. For more information on 30DoSF, please refer to the pinned entry on my WordPress, xlilim – link available in my profile.**_

 _ **I am taking suggestions! If you want to see any couple or character from the story in certain situations, let me know. If I feel inspired by the idea, I will write them! You can PM me, leave a review, or comment on the 30DoSF WordPress page.**_

* * *

 _At the End of the Road_

"You will have to choose," says Itoko, and it pains her to do so because Izuna has already made his decision. She sees it in his eyes, a steely, unshakeable determination to do what is right by his clan, but Izuna is kind. She balls her hands into fists and repeats herself. "Stay or go. It's your choice."

Izuna walks up the steps of the verandah to her, the snow blankets her master's home, and he cups her reddened cheeks. "Come with me."

Itoko closes her watering eyes and exhales a cloud of breath. This is the end. _It hurts._


	18. The Undone Threads

**Story** : Of Ivory Lies and Blackened Hearts

 **Pairing** ( **s** ): Izuna/Itoko

 **Word Count** : 167

 **Author's Comment** : This is the end.

 _ **Originally posted on December 30, 2018 for my 30 Days of Short Fiction. For more information on 30DoSF, please refer to the pinned entry on my WordPress, xlilim – link available in my profile.**_

* * *

 _The Undone Threads_

Itoko spends all morning staring out the window as she stitches the end of a sleeve, but he never shows up on the day that he promises. She gives him a day, sometimes several. He is a warlord. His duty is with his clan, to his brother, and the woman that he serves. She tries to think of good things. The last time they were together, sitting under the stars when he promised he would return earlier than the last time—that he would stay a little longer.

He isn't coming. She knows this. She tries not to fear for him.

Eventually, someone shows up. It isn't him. It's her. The woman he serves, the one that carries a sphere at the end of her necklace, and she stands, the stitching of the kimono coming undone as it tumbles to the floor. She rushes out and she calls out to her.

"Where is he?"

Mio pauses in the middle of the road and exhales. She says nothing.


End file.
